Utah forecast: Here comes rain, snow and clean air

Smog-plagued northern Utah finally is getting a break in the form of an extended rain- and snow-laden storm system.

The National Weather Service placed a stretch of the Wasatch Front from Logan running south through Ogden, Salt Lake City and Provo to Nephi, Price and Green River under a Winter Storm Watch. The advisory ran from Tuesday evening through Friday evening.

Valley locations will mostly see light winds and rainfall, but the mountains were expected to receive 16 to 24 inches of new snow, with even more expected at higher elevations nearer the Utah-Idaho border.

Along with the much-needed precipitation, the storm system should bring long-awaited relief from some of the worst air quality conditions in the nation. The Salt Lake, Davis, Weber and Utah county areas especially have suffered under several weeks of inversions that were rated as unhealthy by the Utah Division of Air Quality.

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The forecast for the Salt Lake and Tooele valleys called for high temperatures on Wednesday in the upper-40s, up 7-10 degrees from Tuesday. Rainfall, expected to begin Tuesday night, was to continue periodically through mid-week, at least.

Southern Utah was to bask in daytime highs in the mid-60s under mostly cloudy skies.

The Avalanche Center rated the Uintas at "considerable" risk of potentially deadly snowslides while the rest of the state — with the exception of Moab, graded at "low" — rated "moderate" for avalanche risk.